Process for reducing the diameter of wire.



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VINCENT S. WHYLAND, F DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

PROCESS FOR REDUCING THE DIAMETER 0F WIRE.

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When drawn wire is under tension, it stretches at a considerable rate for an indefinite period or until a substantially ultimate length is reached, the extens on thereafter being much slower and practically negllgible. It has also been found that wire whlch has been reduced to a predetermined diameter by swaging reaches its substant ally ultimate length after much less extenslon under the same tension than wire of the same diameter not so treated. Wire reduced by being compressed by dies acting at right angles to its length can be made true and smooth by passing it through a drawing die a few onethousandths smaller in diameter.

While this present process is adapted for rendering rods and wires of, brass, copper and silver more dense and less extensible, it

is peculiarly useful in connection with steel rods and wires used in pianos and for the spokes of wheels for bicycles, automoblles and other vehicles, and while the rods or wires will usually be of such diameters as are readily drawn through solid dies, the preliminary reductions may be made by rolling, if desired.

After the wire has been reduced to a proper diameter by rolling or drawing through dies, it is acted upon by any desirable swaging machine with slngle or mul tiple heads, examples of such machines being shown by the United States patent to Whyland, Number 1,074,398, dated September 30th, 1913; and in British patents to Anderson, Number 8230 of 1887; to Morse, Number 19547 of 1897; and to Dayton, Numbers 8803, 12926, 12927 and 19713, all of 1892. A wire rod, two-tenths of an inch in diameter, may be reduced from ten to twenty-five one-thousandths of an inch by this process.

Swaging is accomplished by posltlve pressure by a plurality of instrumentalities movable toward each other at an angle to the line of the wire, and whether this pressure is sudden and momentary, in the form of a blow, or gradually applied, is immaterial so far as concerns this present invention, as T Specification of Letters Patent.

reserve the right to employ any desired reof the wire by lateral pressure, as distinguished from the drawing action of rigid dies whose diameters remain constant or rolls.

The result of the swaging is a rod or wire which is more dense than before this operation, and which stretches less under a given tension than before, and which does not stretch materially after an ultimate length has been reached. The surface of the wire is slightly uneven and its cross-section is not always a perfect circle. In order to give the rod or wire a perfect finish, the swaged material may be drawn through a finishing die a verv few one-thousandths less in diameter than the swaged rod or wire, which causes the high spots to be rubbed down without again separating the molecules of the metal. With some metals it mav be found desirable to anneal the rod or wire. before the swaging operation, with other metals after such operation, and with still others both before and after. It will be understood that this process is not limitedto rods or wires of any diameter. i

It is my intention that this process shall be continuous, that is, that the rods shall pass through the anal drawing die, then through the swaging machine and then through the finishing die, the movement of the rod being uninterrupted. After the ma-' terial is finished, it may be cut into lengths or blanks and the ends of the blanks upset so as to form heads or enlargements for threading, or both. This material is superior for spokes to. those now produced by swaging down the intermediate portions of the spoke blanks, leaving the relatively Patented Dec. 9, 1915. Application filed January 2,1915. Serial No. 301'.

ciprocating means of reducing the diameter spongy ends untreated, for the reason, that the entire lengths of' the spokes are dense.

Iclaim:

1. A process for reducing the diameter of metal wire and rendering it more dense which consists in drawing the wire through a solid die,

then drawing the wire through a solid die.

2. A process for. reducing the diameter of wire and rendering it more dense which then subjecting the wire to the action of reciprocating swaging dies, and

consists in subjecting it to the action of reciprocating swaging dies 'andthen drawing the wire through a solid die.

3. A process for reducing the diameter of wire and rendering it more dense which consists in drawing it through an opening of constant diameter, then compressing it between reciprocating dies acting at right angles to the line of the wire, and then finishing the wire by rubbing down the high spots.

4. A process for reducing the diameter of wire and rendering it more dense which consists in compressing it between dies mov- 10 ing at right angles to the line of the wire VINCENT S. WHYLAND.

Witnesses:

EDWARD N. PAGELSEN, HUGO W. KREINBRING. 

